Application for Betenoire_rp
1. Player Information
Name (or internet handle): Arcadia
Current characters in Bete Noire: None
2. Character Information
Name: Kuchiki Rukia (English: Rukia Kuchiki)
Livejournal Username: mae_shirayuki
Fandom: Bleach - Tamed Hollow AU
Image: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/104748547/31042798
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: Rukia's age is never stated outright in the manga or anime, though when she boasts to Ichigo when they first meet that she has lived “ten of your human life times”. But databook information and some math place her at around 80~ years old or better. However, Rukia appears to be a young teenage girl with black hair styled short to her shoulders and with purple or blue eyes (Kubo nor the anime can't make up their minds). She is very short and slender, being only four feet-eight inches and barely eighty pounds.
History: Because this is an AU character, Rukia's history follows Bleach canon up to the end of the Deicide Arc, as seen here. However, after Ichigo uses Mugestu and loses his powers, the timeline diverges.
Rukia, after separating from Ichigo at the end of Bleach My Soul, returns to Soul Society. Her position as the shinigami of Karakura has already been replaced, so she is shifted off to another post as peace gradually settles down over both the Living World and Soul Society.
However, some months later, Rukia is called back to the little suburb due to some confusing reports of an above-averagely powerful and evasive hollow. Considering her experience with the town and connections to its residents, the shinigami girl is dispatched to locate and exterminate the hollow that had evaded its previous perusers. Feeling both nostalgic and apprehensive, Rukia took to the streets searching for this mysterious hollow, hopefully before it could devour any more souls than it probably already had. She tried to ask Ishida, Orihime, Sado about any potential sightings, but they were all silent and suspiciously so. Left with nothing, Rukia had only good, hard legwork left to her.
Canvasing the town, Rukia happens upon a strange reiatsu (spiritual presence), that is definitely hollow, but... strange at the same time. She pursues it, chasing the creature through the town until eventually cornering it. Wherein it...surrendered and she was able to look upon it with her own eyes.
It was Ichigo. Ichigo, but twisted and warped and transformed into something different. Something hollow, but with the human intellect still holding the reins and the heart still in place. He's made a deal with his hollow, he explained, for the power to protect again. Because his friends had been nearly killed and he could not stand by and do nothing any more. Rukia, terrified for him, asks him one question.
Why couldn't you ask us for help?
She agrees to keep his secret from Soul Society and returns after a few days, telling her superiors that the hollow had simply not turned up. She continued her duties, never once returning to Karakura, least she made more eyes shift to the little town than that was necessary. It hurt, not being able to see her best friend again now that he could see spirits again, but it was for his safety and continued existence. She didnt want to think what would happen to him if Soul Society found him.
Too bad thats exactly what happens. Rukia is dragged before a tribunal of captains the the captain commander to explain her insubordination. She stands by her choice, regardless of the plea bargains offered her that would use her testimony to Ichigo's condition as evidence of his instability. She never wavers in her support or defense of Ichigo and ultimately, Rukia is shipped off to Karakura until Kurosaki Ichigo's death. She will be his babysitter, his watcher and nurse and perhaps his first victim should he ever surrender to his hollow cravings.
Personality:
Rukia is personified by the grace and noble air about her, a trait she possessed even from a very young age as seen in Abarai Renji's memories. Despite belonging to one of the great noble clans and being the sister of its head, Rukia continues to carry herself with a humility born from both her slum dog childhood and the emotional gulf between herself and her adoptive brother. Byakuya's complete detachment from his sister and his seeming disapproval over her failure to advance in the ranks of the Gotei (due to her blacklisting from all possible officer-level promotions at Byakuya's insistence), Renji's distance for over forty years, and her sense of estrangement from her peers in the Gotei have imbued Rukia with a deeply seated inferiority complex. Added with this, she continues to carry the guilt over her mentor's death and for bringing Ichigo into the world of hollows and shinigami (despite how much Ichigo is appreciative of her giving him the power to protect that he's always desired). Although, due to her victory over the Noveno Espada, she may finally be dealing with Kaien's death now that she has certainly freed him from the hollow that consumed him. Because of her complicated past and present, Rukia has a bad habit of keeping her personal problems to herself. Still born from that sense of inferiority, she desires to not make a burden of herself and keeps her problems close to her chest. Her most notorious example is during the Soul Society Arc when she tries to get Ichigo to flee Seireitei and save himself and leave her to her execution. She facilitates this with an aloof, cool, and occasionally haughty attitude she uses as her mask to the world. This carries on to the point that Rukia fled Karakura because she realized that she was growing attached and comfortable in the human world and Ichigo's life. Feelings of friendship, camaraderie, happiness and belonging were so alien to her that she panicked and fled - right into the arms of her captors.
As a shinigami in battle, she cultivates an icy and professional persona, striking down her enemies as efficiently as possible. Such as seen during her fight with Di Roy where she went for a killing strike with minimal delay. Against stronger opponents such as the leader of the Exequitas, Rudobon, Rukia demonstrates a keen eye for spotting her enemy's flaws and weaknesses and capitalizing on them, a must for a combatant that lacks both bankai and the raw spiritual power that most of her opponents possess. Against Aaroniero, Rukia deducted his aversion to sunlight as a weakness and used a surprise combination of binding and destructive kidou to blow a hole in his palace wall and reveal his use of shape shifting to fool her into thinking he was Shiba Kaien. She is endlessly dedicated to her duties as a shinigami, convincing (read: dragging him unwillingly) Ichigo into taking on her duties as a shinigami at the very start of the series just to assure that hollows are purified and dead souls konsoed. She goes so far as to tutor him on the basics of the world of the dead herself, becoming his guide and trusted friend.
With her friends, Rukia is considerably less guarded with her emotions and her thoughts. Around Ichigo and Renji, Rukia still maintains that haughty Kuchiki demeanor, but more often than not, that facade is broken when she dissolves into childish bickering with one or both of them. Usually the bickering comes with a punch or kick to the face (especially when Ichigo is being stupid, re: tracking him down in Hueco Mundo and punching him for leaving Renji and her behind) with the boys. Toss into that her stubborn streak, especially when it comes to her nakama, and you get a real spitfire hiding underneath all that icy aloofness. Rukia is dedicated and loyal to her nakama, supporting and believing in them no matter the situation, as exampled when she offered Inoue Orihime a place in Soul Society to train with her when Urahara Kisuke tried to keep the girl from participating in the encroaching Winter War; hoping to convince the girl she had the capacity to be a fighter if she desired to be. Or during the Memories in the Rain subarc when, upon realizing just how deep Ichigo's guilt over his mother's death went, told him that she would be willing to listen to him speak about it, but only when he was ready to do so.
For all her maturity, Rukia still has her moments when she's very much a teenage girl. She. Loves. Rabbits. No, really. She loves them, dissolving into a gleeful, giggling, grinning loon at the sight of anything remotely shaped like one. Her favorite target of her lapine obsession is the gikongan mascot Chappy the Rabbit and any merchandise related to him. In fact, Chappy was originally the gikongan she'd purchased for Ichigo to use (they got Kon instead) and is seen using later during the Arrancar Invasion arc. When not in her shihakusho, she is always in dresses or skirts and other feminine clothing. She also loves to draw and doodle and leave messages for Ichigo in contrived code with her artwork as visual clues to decrypting them. It just so happens that her artwork is terrible, the people in her pictures are cartoony bears and rabbits (who look suspiciously like Chappy) and have backgrounds full of lopsided stars and messing lightening bolts. Rukia is also a consummate actress, projecting an innocent and saccharine sweet personality that was more than likely lifted from the loli and shoujo manga she used to learn modern Japanese while she was undercover in Ichigo's school. More often than not using the adoration of some of her schoolmates and teachers to distract them while Ichigo and she see to his shinigami daikou duties. Though Ichigo seems to pick up on it instantly and calls her out on her bad acting skills. Too bad he's the only one.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation:
Rukia doesn't think about sex much, if at all. Being so consumed with her duties as a shinigami, her guilt over Kaien, guilt over not being able to help Ichigo and wanting to please her brother, the thought of indulging her sexual desires just does not occur to her. This gives a tinge of oppression to her own wants and desires. She doesn't consider herself attractive nor ugly, and she is essentially heterosexual by default. However, it not out of question that she could potentially fall in love with a girl as well.
Powers:
Rukia is versed in all four areas of shinigami combat arts: hakuda (hand-to-hand), hoho (high speed movement, centered mostly around the use of shunpo), zanjutsu (sword combat), and kidou. Over all, Rukia has the combat skills to be a seated officer, though what rank of seated officer is unsaid. No shinigami is without their zanpakutou, and neither is Rukia. Rukia's blade, Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeve of White Snow) is a zanpakutou of the ice/snow family. Reputed to be the most beautiful zanpakuou in Soul Society, it is completely white from the tang, all the way down to the tsuba, tsuka, tsukaito, kashira, and the long ribbon that extends from the stylized kashira. It's release phrase is "mae" or dance. Unlike other zanpakutou seen, Sode no Shirayuki has several abilities and attacks in its shikai phase (first level of release) that provide multiple functions in combat, manipulating ice and snow to freeze and destroy her opponents. The revealed attacks, called dances, thus far are:
-Some no Mai, Tsukishiro (White Moon): A circle of white light forms underneath Rukia's target and attempts to freeze them to the ground at first. Afterward, seemingly at Rukia's command, the circle extends up from the ground and into the highest reaches of the sky, forming a pillar of light and ice that captures everything within its "frozen domain". Afterward, the pillar shatters, destroying anything within it. Its strength is enough to instantly kill the sixteenth ranked arracar Di Roy.
-Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren (White Ripple): A long distance attack that creates an avalanche of snow and ice from the tip of her blade. She can control the size of it, from making it small enough to freeze the hand of the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jagerjaques, to completely inundating the sand guardian Lunaburga (who is several stories tall) outside Las Noches in a shell of ice. Rukia begins this attack by striking the ground in front of her four times to create streams of white light before aiming her zanpakutou and launching the attack.
-San no Mai, Shirafune (White Sword): Unlike the first two dances, Shirafune is not a directly offensive ability. Seen only when the blade of Sode no Shirayuki was shattered, she reforges the blade with ice and pierces the skull of the Novena Espada with it. Afterward, the ice is shown dissolving, along with the rest of the blade.
Reason for playing: Rukia is a nuanced, complex, highly layered character. She breaks a lot of shounen stereotypes, and I find the divided loyalties she has to deal with between Ichigo and his condition and that of Soul Society to be something highly intriguing. Very few players of this character get to chance or simply chose not to delve very deeply into Rukia's inner most workings and sexuality. She's not the most titillating figure, and her icy demeanor means that her sexuality and darker sides often get ignored. Betenoire will force these flaws and insecurities to the surface.
5. Samples
First-Person:
My day has not changed that much, in truth. I still wake with the dawn, bathe and attend to my hygiene rituals. I go and train with myself and Shirayuki, I work a few hours in the Kurosaki Clinic and I return home, I sleep. But in between the bath and the training, the return home and the rest, is the small things that make it so much different now. The morning is marked by giving Ichigo the little device - longer than my thumb - to measure his condition. I stopped doing it weeks ago. Its a small measure of comfort for him to do it on his own, makes him feel a bit more proactive about his own recovery. The evening is marked by another measuring and drawing blood. We use another small device with a special needle that can pierce his heirro, designed by Urahara. It causes him pain to use it, but it must be done.
A day - a life - built around him and his needs. I know he feels guilty, thinking that he forced me into this life of a small cot in a small apartment in the depths of a massive human city, playing nursemaid and prison guard to him. But that can be no further than the reality of the situation, the fool.
I made my choice. I will never regret it. What would be the alternative? He chained in the depths of Kurotsuchi-taichou's lab or dead while I slept peacefully in my brother's estate? Did he honestly believe that was the better outcome for me? The fool. He continues to be an idiot over things that have nothing to do with him.
Third-Person:
The sound is familiar to her, rushing wind and the shine of lights from below. She's used to heights, clamoring to the top of telephone poles and buildings to watch the play of human life below. It made her feel tall, and it was her favorite refuge whenever she needed time to think or be alone. So its nothing too concerning for her when she opens one drowsy eye and glares down at the swarm of humanity twisting along the streets and pathways hundreds of floors down.
But this wasn't Karakura. Karakura wasn't this big! Hurriedly extended her senses, a growing pit of worry settled in her stomach. She couldn't feel Inoue or Ishida or Sado or...Ichigo! There, far off and faint, the strange hollow-human hybrid reiatsu flickered steadily. Ichigo was here, but not the others? There was no Arisawa or the signature of the other shinigami that was in charge of Karakura either.Standing on the precipice of the skyscraper, Rukia gripped her sword tightly in its sheath. This could be a trap, an illusion by Aizen. Its an old paranoia, but one that has a difficult time dying.
If it was one of Aizen's traps, then it would do her no good simply standing here. Flaring her reiatsu heavily once, twice, three times, she leaped off the edge of the building and into the acrid night air of this new city.
Third-Person #2:
Staying in a hostel full of boys was trying for even the most patient of souls. Rukia was long used to it, though. The streets of Rukongai to the dorms of the Academy, she was used to confined spaces and lots of boys. Which meant that shower time was one of the most anticipated moments of the day. She had privacy! She had space! And a hot shower was a miracle invented by humans if there ever was one. Standing under the spray, Rukia closed her eyes and reveled in the heat. The hot water rolling off her shoulders and down her chest, curving around modest breasts and across her scarred belly.
A deep breath full of cloying steam and Rukia reached for her soap with a shaky hand. It'd been getting worse lately, sometimes the soft cotton of her shitagi scraping against her chest would make her shiver and her breasts tingle, the heat and chaos of a spar lingered too long on her cheeks and the adrenaline surged down into her belly to the point she had to douse herself in cold water to stop the damned distracting, hollow ache. She knew the city was affecting her, and she hated it.
Scrubbing at the filth of the day with a rag, Rukia tried to go over the sensitive spots quickly - breasts and knees and the swell of hips and inner thighs. But at the apex of her thighs she stopped. Unconscious of leaning back against the far wall of the shower stall, Rukia slid down to floor, bathwater and soapy foam draining away from her as she laid her palm flat over her mons and pressed down. Hips jolted up in response and her lips stung from her teeth worrying them. She tasted the thin, copper bite of blood trickle over her tongue. Fingertips hovered over the crux of her sex and over that most sensitive fold of flesh and slid one finger between the lips.
She shrieked as the water suddenly turn cold on her, peppering her heated skin with pure ice. Shaking her head under the stream, she reached up and spun the knob off. The arousal doused in shivering cold, she grabbed her towels and wrapped herself up in them and jumped into her pajamas, shame coloring her face.
Name (or internet handle): Arcadia
Current characters in Bete Noire: None
2. Character Information
Name: Kuchiki Rukia (English: Rukia Kuchiki)
Livejournal Username: mae_shirayuki
Fandom: Bleach - Tamed Hollow AU
Image: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/104748547/31042798
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: Rukia's age is never stated outright in the manga or anime, though when she boasts to Ichigo when they first meet that she has lived “ten of your human life times”. But databook information and some math place her at around 80~ years old or better. However, Rukia appears to be a young teenage girl with black hair styled short to her shoulders and with purple or blue eyes (Kubo nor the anime can't make up their minds). She is very short and slender, being only four feet-eight inches and barely eighty pounds.
History: Because this is an AU character, Rukia's history follows Bleach canon up to the end of the Deicide Arc, as seen here. However, after Ichigo uses Mugestu and loses his powers, the timeline diverges.
Rukia, after separating from Ichigo at the end of Bleach My Soul, returns to Soul Society. Her position as the shinigami of Karakura has already been replaced, so she is shifted off to another post as peace gradually settles down over both the Living World and Soul Society.
However, some months later, Rukia is called back to the little suburb due to some confusing reports of an above-averagely powerful and evasive hollow. Considering her experience with the town and connections to its residents, the shinigami girl is dispatched to locate and exterminate the hollow that had evaded its previous perusers. Feeling both nostalgic and apprehensive, Rukia took to the streets searching for this mysterious hollow, hopefully before it could devour any more souls than it probably already had. She tried to ask Ishida, Orihime, Sado about any potential sightings, but they were all silent and suspiciously so. Left with nothing, Rukia had only good, hard legwork left to her.
Canvasing the town, Rukia happens upon a strange reiatsu (spiritual presence), that is definitely hollow, but... strange at the same time. She pursues it, chasing the creature through the town until eventually cornering it. Wherein it...surrendered and she was able to look upon it with her own eyes.
It was Ichigo. Ichigo, but twisted and warped and transformed into something different. Something hollow, but with the human intellect still holding the reins and the heart still in place. He's made a deal with his hollow, he explained, for the power to protect again. Because his friends had been nearly killed and he could not stand by and do nothing any more. Rukia, terrified for him, asks him one question.
Why couldn't you ask us for help?
She agrees to keep his secret from Soul Society and returns after a few days, telling her superiors that the hollow had simply not turned up. She continued her duties, never once returning to Karakura, least she made more eyes shift to the little town than that was necessary. It hurt, not being able to see her best friend again now that he could see spirits again, but it was for his safety and continued existence. She didnt want to think what would happen to him if Soul Society found him.
Too bad thats exactly what happens. Rukia is dragged before a tribunal of captains the the captain commander to explain her insubordination. She stands by her choice, regardless of the plea bargains offered her that would use her testimony to Ichigo's condition as evidence of his instability. She never wavers in her support or defense of Ichigo and ultimately, Rukia is shipped off to Karakura until Kurosaki Ichigo's death. She will be his babysitter, his watcher and nurse and perhaps his first victim should he ever surrender to his hollow cravings.
Personality:
Rukia is personified by the grace and noble air about her, a trait she possessed even from a very young age as seen in Abarai Renji's memories. Despite belonging to one of the great noble clans and being the sister of its head, Rukia continues to carry herself with a humility born from both her slum dog childhood and the emotional gulf between herself and her adoptive brother. Byakuya's complete detachment from his sister and his seeming disapproval over her failure to advance in the ranks of the Gotei (due to her blacklisting from all possible officer-level promotions at Byakuya's insistence), Renji's distance for over forty years, and her sense of estrangement from her peers in the Gotei have imbued Rukia with a deeply seated inferiority complex. Added with this, she continues to carry the guilt over her mentor's death and for bringing Ichigo into the world of hollows and shinigami (despite how much Ichigo is appreciative of her giving him the power to protect that he's always desired). Although, due to her victory over the Noveno Espada, she may finally be dealing with Kaien's death now that she has certainly freed him from the hollow that consumed him. Because of her complicated past and present, Rukia has a bad habit of keeping her personal problems to herself. Still born from that sense of inferiority, she desires to not make a burden of herself and keeps her problems close to her chest. Her most notorious example is during the Soul Society Arc when she tries to get Ichigo to flee Seireitei and save himself and leave her to her execution. She facilitates this with an aloof, cool, and occasionally haughty attitude she uses as her mask to the world. This carries on to the point that Rukia fled Karakura because she realized that she was growing attached and comfortable in the human world and Ichigo's life. Feelings of friendship, camaraderie, happiness and belonging were so alien to her that she panicked and fled - right into the arms of her captors.
As a shinigami in battle, she cultivates an icy and professional persona, striking down her enemies as efficiently as possible. Such as seen during her fight with Di Roy where she went for a killing strike with minimal delay. Against stronger opponents such as the leader of the Exequitas, Rudobon, Rukia demonstrates a keen eye for spotting her enemy's flaws and weaknesses and capitalizing on them, a must for a combatant that lacks both bankai and the raw spiritual power that most of her opponents possess. Against Aaroniero, Rukia deducted his aversion to sunlight as a weakness and used a surprise combination of binding and destructive kidou to blow a hole in his palace wall and reveal his use of shape shifting to fool her into thinking he was Shiba Kaien. She is endlessly dedicated to her duties as a shinigami, convincing (read: dragging him unwillingly) Ichigo into taking on her duties as a shinigami at the very start of the series just to assure that hollows are purified and dead souls konsoed. She goes so far as to tutor him on the basics of the world of the dead herself, becoming his guide and trusted friend.
With her friends, Rukia is considerably less guarded with her emotions and her thoughts. Around Ichigo and Renji, Rukia still maintains that haughty Kuchiki demeanor, but more often than not, that facade is broken when she dissolves into childish bickering with one or both of them. Usually the bickering comes with a punch or kick to the face (especially when Ichigo is being stupid, re: tracking him down in Hueco Mundo and punching him for leaving Renji and her behind) with the boys. Toss into that her stubborn streak, especially when it comes to her nakama, and you get a real spitfire hiding underneath all that icy aloofness. Rukia is dedicated and loyal to her nakama, supporting and believing in them no matter the situation, as exampled when she offered Inoue Orihime a place in Soul Society to train with her when Urahara Kisuke tried to keep the girl from participating in the encroaching Winter War; hoping to convince the girl she had the capacity to be a fighter if she desired to be. Or during the Memories in the Rain subarc when, upon realizing just how deep Ichigo's guilt over his mother's death went, told him that she would be willing to listen to him speak about it, but only when he was ready to do so.
For all her maturity, Rukia still has her moments when she's very much a teenage girl. She. Loves. Rabbits. No, really. She loves them, dissolving into a gleeful, giggling, grinning loon at the sight of anything remotely shaped like one. Her favorite target of her lapine obsession is the gikongan mascot Chappy the Rabbit and any merchandise related to him. In fact, Chappy was originally the gikongan she'd purchased for Ichigo to use (they got Kon instead) and is seen using later during the Arrancar Invasion arc. When not in her shihakusho, she is always in dresses or skirts and other feminine clothing. She also loves to draw and doodle and leave messages for Ichigo in contrived code with her artwork as visual clues to decrypting them. It just so happens that her artwork is terrible, the people in her pictures are cartoony bears and rabbits (who look suspiciously like Chappy) and have backgrounds full of lopsided stars and messing lightening bolts. Rukia is also a consummate actress, projecting an innocent and saccharine sweet personality that was more than likely lifted from the loli and shoujo manga she used to learn modern Japanese while she was undercover in Ichigo's school. More often than not using the adoration of some of her schoolmates and teachers to distract them while Ichigo and she see to his shinigami daikou duties. Though Ichigo seems to pick up on it instantly and calls her out on her bad acting skills. Too bad he's the only one.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation:
Rukia doesn't think about sex much, if at all. Being so consumed with her duties as a shinigami, her guilt over Kaien, guilt over not being able to help Ichigo and wanting to please her brother, the thought of indulging her sexual desires just does not occur to her. This gives a tinge of oppression to her own wants and desires. She doesn't consider herself attractive nor ugly, and she is essentially heterosexual by default. However, it not out of question that she could potentially fall in love with a girl as well.
Powers:
Rukia is versed in all four areas of shinigami combat arts: hakuda (hand-to-hand), hoho (high speed movement, centered mostly around the use of shunpo), zanjutsu (sword combat), and kidou. Over all, Rukia has the combat skills to be a seated officer, though what rank of seated officer is unsaid. No shinigami is without their zanpakutou, and neither is Rukia. Rukia's blade, Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeve of White Snow) is a zanpakutou of the ice/snow family. Reputed to be the most beautiful zanpakuou in Soul Society, it is completely white from the tang, all the way down to the tsuba, tsuka, tsukaito, kashira, and the long ribbon that extends from the stylized kashira. It's release phrase is "mae" or dance. Unlike other zanpakutou seen, Sode no Shirayuki has several abilities and attacks in its shikai phase (first level of release) that provide multiple functions in combat, manipulating ice and snow to freeze and destroy her opponents. The revealed attacks, called dances, thus far are:
-Some no Mai, Tsukishiro (White Moon): A circle of white light forms underneath Rukia's target and attempts to freeze them to the ground at first. Afterward, seemingly at Rukia's command, the circle extends up from the ground and into the highest reaches of the sky, forming a pillar of light and ice that captures everything within its "frozen domain". Afterward, the pillar shatters, destroying anything within it. Its strength is enough to instantly kill the sixteenth ranked arracar Di Roy.
-Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren (White Ripple): A long distance attack that creates an avalanche of snow and ice from the tip of her blade. She can control the size of it, from making it small enough to freeze the hand of the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jagerjaques, to completely inundating the sand guardian Lunaburga (who is several stories tall) outside Las Noches in a shell of ice. Rukia begins this attack by striking the ground in front of her four times to create streams of white light before aiming her zanpakutou and launching the attack.
-San no Mai, Shirafune (White Sword): Unlike the first two dances, Shirafune is not a directly offensive ability. Seen only when the blade of Sode no Shirayuki was shattered, she reforges the blade with ice and pierces the skull of the Novena Espada with it. Afterward, the ice is shown dissolving, along with the rest of the blade.
Reason for playing: Rukia is a nuanced, complex, highly layered character. She breaks a lot of shounen stereotypes, and I find the divided loyalties she has to deal with between Ichigo and his condition and that of Soul Society to be something highly intriguing. Very few players of this character get to chance or simply chose not to delve very deeply into Rukia's inner most workings and sexuality. She's not the most titillating figure, and her icy demeanor means that her sexuality and darker sides often get ignored. Betenoire will force these flaws and insecurities to the surface.
5. Samples
First-Person:
My day has not changed that much, in truth. I still wake with the dawn, bathe and attend to my hygiene rituals. I go and train with myself and Shirayuki, I work a few hours in the Kurosaki Clinic and I return home, I sleep. But in between the bath and the training, the return home and the rest, is the small things that make it so much different now. The morning is marked by giving Ichigo the little device - longer than my thumb - to measure his condition. I stopped doing it weeks ago. Its a small measure of comfort for him to do it on his own, makes him feel a bit more proactive about his own recovery. The evening is marked by another measuring and drawing blood. We use another small device with a special needle that can pierce his heirro, designed by Urahara. It causes him pain to use it, but it must be done.
A day - a life - built around him and his needs. I know he feels guilty, thinking that he forced me into this life of a small cot in a small apartment in the depths of a massive human city, playing nursemaid and prison guard to him. But that can be no further than the reality of the situation, the fool.
I made my choice. I will never regret it. What would be the alternative? He chained in the depths of Kurotsuchi-taichou's lab or dead while I slept peacefully in my brother's estate? Did he honestly believe that was the better outcome for me? The fool. He continues to be an idiot over things that have nothing to do with him.
Third-Person:
The sound is familiar to her, rushing wind and the shine of lights from below. She's used to heights, clamoring to the top of telephone poles and buildings to watch the play of human life below. It made her feel tall, and it was her favorite refuge whenever she needed time to think or be alone. So its nothing too concerning for her when she opens one drowsy eye and glares down at the swarm of humanity twisting along the streets and pathways hundreds of floors down.
But this wasn't Karakura. Karakura wasn't this big! Hurriedly extended her senses, a growing pit of worry settled in her stomach. She couldn't feel Inoue or Ishida or Sado or...Ichigo! There, far off and faint, the strange hollow-human hybrid reiatsu flickered steadily. Ichigo was here, but not the others? There was no Arisawa or the signature of the other shinigami that was in charge of Karakura either.Standing on the precipice of the skyscraper, Rukia gripped her sword tightly in its sheath. This could be a trap, an illusion by Aizen. Its an old paranoia, but one that has a difficult time dying.
If it was one of Aizen's traps, then it would do her no good simply standing here. Flaring her reiatsu heavily once, twice, three times, she leaped off the edge of the building and into the acrid night air of this new city.
Third-Person #2:
Staying in a hostel full of boys was trying for even the most patient of souls. Rukia was long used to it, though. The streets of Rukongai to the dorms of the Academy, she was used to confined spaces and lots of boys. Which meant that shower time was one of the most anticipated moments of the day. She had privacy! She had space! And a hot shower was a miracle invented by humans if there ever was one. Standing under the spray, Rukia closed her eyes and reveled in the heat. The hot water rolling off her shoulders and down her chest, curving around modest breasts and across her scarred belly.
A deep breath full of cloying steam and Rukia reached for her soap with a shaky hand. It'd been getting worse lately, sometimes the soft cotton of her shitagi scraping against her chest would make her shiver and her breasts tingle, the heat and chaos of a spar lingered too long on her cheeks and the adrenaline surged down into her belly to the point she had to douse herself in cold water to stop the damned distracting, hollow ache. She knew the city was affecting her, and she hated it.
Scrubbing at the filth of the day with a rag, Rukia tried to go over the sensitive spots quickly - breasts and knees and the swell of hips and inner thighs. But at the apex of her thighs she stopped. Unconscious of leaning back against the far wall of the shower stall, Rukia slid down to floor, bathwater and soapy foam draining away from her as she laid her palm flat over her mons and pressed down. Hips jolted up in response and her lips stung from her teeth worrying them. She tasted the thin, copper bite of blood trickle over her tongue. Fingertips hovered over the crux of her sex and over that most sensitive fold of flesh and slid one finger between the lips.
She shrieked as the water suddenly turn cold on her, peppering her heated skin with pure ice. Shaking her head under the stream, she reached up and spun the knob off. The arousal doused in shivering cold, she grabbed her towels and wrapped herself up in them and jumped into her pajamas, shame coloring her face.